“It’s not a suspicious death. It’s natural causes,” said Dottie Lindsay, Charleston County deputy coroner. The coroner’s office was still trying to contact relatives Tuesday evening and did not release identification.

A group of men who were renovating a neighboring roadhouse on the property alerted authorities to the death.

One of the men renovating thehouse, Clay Hampton of James Island, said that a man lived alone in the home. A dark blue truck in the front yard hadn’t moved in weeks, he said.

Hampton said he and the other men decided to check on the man after learning that the home’s water and electricity had been turned off.

Hampton brushed off the home’s front steps, paying little attention to a lingering smell in the air, he said.

“That smell had been around for weeks,” Hampton said. “We just figured it was coming from out behind the house.”

Then Hampton said he was alarmed to see hundreds of flies batting at the home’s windows.

Reach Christina Elmore at 937-5908 or at Twitter.com/celmorePC.

Enlarge Christina Elmore/staff
Deputies investigating a report of an unusual odor Tuesday found a body inside this house on Folly Road on James Island.

Christina Elmore/staff
Deputies investigating a report of an unusual odor Tuesday found a body inside this house on Folly Road on James Island.

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